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One key trend in recent years has been a stronger focus on re-engaging existing customers. With rising customer acquisition costs and high digital marketing expenses, merchants are increasingly investing in strategies to deepen relationships with their current customer base. Re-engaging customers during this critical season not only boosts sales and profit margins but also creates lasting value for your business.
After all, acquiring a new customer can cost 5 to 25 times more than retaining an existing one, and repeat customers tend to spend 33% more than first-time buyers.
However, many companies struggle to re-engage customers effectively during peak seasons. Success requires the right combination of tools and strategies to build strong customer relationships that drive meaningful results. This guide will help you identify opportunities to maximize your existing customer base, allowing you to spend less while achieving more.
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is a critical metric describing the total worth of a customer to your business over the entire duration of your relationship. CLV factors in individual transactions, potential future purchases, and revenue generated from the customer over time.
The basic formula for calculating CLV is:
CLV = Average Purchase Value × Purchase Frequency × Average Customer Lifespan
A higher CLV means your business can spend less on customer acquisition while maintaining profitability. CLV also serves as a measurable indicator of customer loyalty, which has significant implications for profitability, sustainable growth, and brand value.
Understanding and tracking CLV is especially important during the holidays, as it shifts the focus from short-term gains to building long-term customer relationships. By keeping an eye on CLV, business owners can make smarter decisions around budgeting, marketing, and customer retention.
With the holiday shopping season spanning just a few weeks, it’s crucial to make the most of the rest of the year. Implement tools, strategies, and campaigns that foster long-lasting and meaningful customer experiences to drive sustained success.
Deals and discounts often define the holiday season, but building customer loyalty requires more than just one-time offers. Consider these re-engagement strategies to encourage first-time holiday shoppers to return:
Personalization can significantly enhance the impact of your marketing efforts. According to McKinsey, companies that excel at personalization generate 40% more revenue from these activities than those that don’t.
Look at examples like Amazon’s personalized gift guides or Spotify Wrapped - both highlight how tailored content makes customers feel understood and connected. Apply the same principle to your re-engagement campaigns: use customer data from REVIEWS.io to deliver personalized product recommendations, tailored offers, or curated collections that feel relevant to each shopper.
Reward existing customers by giving them access to exclusive holiday offers. Limited-time discounts or early access events create urgency and show customers they’re valued.
For example, Alo launched a 30% early access sale exclusively for rewards members, while Parade invited VIP customers to shop a private event before the public launch. These tactics not only drive sales but also strengthen customer loyalty.
Testing shows that urgency is best communicated within three days of the cutoff, so plan your messaging 72 hours in advance to maximize impact.
Loyalty programs are one of the most effective tools for increasing retention. Forrester found that more than 20% of US online adults say loyalty membership motivates them to shop with a retailer again. That retention boost has major implications: even a 5% increase in customer retention can lead to a 25-95% increase in profit.
Tools like Influence make it easy to build or enhance your loyalty program. You can set up points for customer actions like purchases, referrals, or reviews, then reward members with perks that encourage repeat engagement. Features like tiers, referral rewards, and integrations with other tools ensure your program drives value for both your customers and your business.
Influence’s Memberships feature takes loyalty a step further by allowing you to create tailored groups with unique earn/redeem rules. For example, you might reward VIPs with early access to holiday drops, while subscribers get monthly recurring perks. Segmenting your loyalty program in this way makes rewards feel more personal and keeps customers engaged long after the holiday rush.
Social media helps you remain top-of-mind in the days and weeks following a first purchase. Use Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, X, and Facebook to create engaging, interactive content that goes beyond promotions. Quizzes, polls, and contests are great for keeping your audience involved.
Tools like ViralSweep make it simple to run sweepstakes and giveaways, while REVIEWS.io helps you source and share user-generated content (UGC). UGC is particularly effective because customers trust the recommendations of other shoppers - and it costs little to create and share.
And with the ViralSweep + REVIEWS.io integration, you can take things even further. Sweepstakes and giveaways already drive engagement, but adding verified reviews and real-time ratings builds instant trust with every campaign. You can incentivize review submissions by offering bonus entries, display testimonials directly on entry pages, and capture valuable feedback while collecting high-quality leads. It’s a simple way to turn short-term promotions into long-term retention tools that fuel both credibility and conversion.
Remember, social media is a two-way conversation. Responding promptly to comments, questions, and feedback builds stronger relationships and keeps customers coming back.
Retargeting campaigns reconnect you with shoppers who’ve already interacted with your brand but haven’t yet converted. Because these customers are warm leads, retargeting typically delivers higher engagement and ROI than broad advertising campaigns.
Dynamic retargeting is especially effective. It shows ads featuring products a shopper has previously viewed or added to their cart, giving them a timely reminder to complete the purchase.
While retargeting requires some setup and the right tools, it’s a powerful way to turn browsers into buyers during, and after, the holiday rush.
Merchants preparing for the holiday season should evaluate whether their tech stack supports fast, frictionless sales and strong retention. Here are three areas to prioritize:
Data analytics gives you deep insights into customer behavior and buying patterns, helping you identify opportunities to improve. With REVIEWS.io’s AI features, you can quickly mine reviews for recurring themes, uncover friction points, and track sentiment trends.
Instead of manually sifting through feedback, you can ask specific questions (e.g. “What are the most common objections?”) and receive data-driven answers. These insights allow you to refine your products, customer experience, and campaigns in real time.
Holiday shoppers appreciate businesses that go the extra mile with personal touches. Even a simple thank-you email after a purchase can help re-engage a customer. Automation makes this scalable.
Use email automation platforms like Klaviyo, integrated with REVIEWS.io, to deliver timely, personalized messages. For example, you might set up a drip series to welcome new loyalty members, explain how to earn points in Influence, and encourage them to share reviews or UGC.
This type of automation ensures customers feel valued without adding to your team’s workload during the busiest time of year.
A strong digital strategy is essential for holiday success - and partners like AdQuadrant can help build one that balances acquisition, retention, and experience.
Focus on holiday-specific promotions (bundles, discounts, early access) supported by clear urgency signals like countdown timers and bold banners. Make sure landing pages are optimized for speed, mobile, and frictionless checkout to handle peak traffic.
Behind the scenes, protect stability with measures like a code freeze during high-volume weeks, while offering flexible options like gift cards for undecided shoppers. Layer in personalization, from tailored recommendations to targeted emails and extra customer support, to build trust and boost conversions.
With the right strategy and partner, your digital foundation will not only capture seasonal demand but also set you up for long-term growth.
To recap, here are the essentials for turning seasonal shoppers into long-term customers:
Re-engaging customers during the holiday season is essential for driving revenue growth and creating long-term value for your business. Leveraging tools like Influence.io and collaborating with partners like Adquadrant can help you develop a winning strategy that ensures customers return well beyond the holiday period.
Take the first step towards enhancing your customer engagement strategy today and secure lasting success for your business.
Want to learn more about Adquadrant? Check out their website here or visit our directory page.
Book a demo today to see how REVIEWS.io can strengthen your holiday strategy.
Focus on personalization, loyalty rewards, and consistent communication through channels like email and social media.
CLV shifts focus from one-time sales to long-term relationships, helping you invest more wisely in retention strategies.
Loyalty platforms like Influence, UGC and review tools from REVIEWS.io, and automation platforms like Klaviyo all support retention.
AI tools like REVIEWS.io’s AI Assistant and Insights help analyze customer sentiment at scale, so you can act on data quickly and improve engagement.
